Today was our last full day in Sapa and the last day of the long public holiday, so we planned to go up to Fansipan, hoping the crowds would be limited. However, the weather gods were against us again, and it was pissing down, so we couldn’t ride and had to take a taxi to the cable car station.
The trip on the cable car, the third longest in the world, apparently, didn’t come cheap at over 1.6 million dong each (around 1,000 baht a head), not including the funicular railways at either end, which would have nearly doubled it. It is a must-do in Sapa, so off we went, hiking through the car park in the pouring rain to the station. Fortunately, those with any sense had opted not to make the trip today, and the queues we were warned about online were light.
The cable car held 35 people and was the largest I have been in. The views over the rice terraces below as we descended were pretty impressive before we entered the clouds and a complete white-out. To avoid the queues for the tram to the top, we decided to walk, which was a little challenging in the cold wind and rain and at an elevation of over 3,000 meters.
There were some serene Buddhist temples en route to duck out of the rain for a rest. The summit itself was not that impressive, just a couple of stone pyramids marking the peak of Fansipan at 3,143 meters, and the view was nonexistent, which made it a bit of an anticlimax after the wet hike.
With the photos taken, we hurried off the mountain as the wind and rain intensified and took the cable car back down as the big tour groups started to arrive. There was a nice flower garden at the bottom, but the dismal weather spoiled any chances of getting decent shots. Not every day on the road is a sunny paradise.
As soon as there was a break in the rain, we took the bikes back into town, had a Pho Bo lunch, did some final shopping, and warmed up with a cold beer.
